PoliticsTrending
The Supreme Court denied a last-minute request from the Trump administration to prevent California from counting approximately 20,000 mail-in ballots that the government alleges may belong to noncitizens.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued a one-line order denying a request from the Trump administration to temporarily block California from counting mail-in ballots that officials allege could be submitted by noncitizens.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) sought an injunction to prevent California from "commingling suspected illegal ballots with legal ones" until the citizenship status of approximately 20,000 voters could be verified, according to a filing by Solicitor General D. John Sauer. The administration argued that the United States suffers an "injury to its sovereignty" from the violation of laws prohibiting noncitizens from voting.
California officials and the DOJ have been engaged in a series of legal battles regarding this issue. A federal district judge, David Carter, previously rejected the DOJ's request for a temporary restraining order, stating, "Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch."
The Trump administration's claims are based on a list compiled by the Department of Homeland Security. However, California officials and election experts have questioned the accuracy of this list. A DOJ lawyer admitted in a separate case that the lists of purported noncitizens on California’s voter rolls had a "high error rate."
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, called the Supreme Court's decision "completely appropriate, very expected," and described the administration's legal move as a "Hail Mary" that was "baseless."
The Supreme Court's decision comes one day before the November 3 midterm elections. While the administration has asserted that noncitizens are attempting to vote, experts note that confirmed instances of noncitizen voting are rare.
In a separate matter, a federal judge on Saturday ordered the DOJ to stop making threats of criminal prosecution against California election officials who refuse to stop processing ballots or resist federal demands.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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